02 October 2020
The Judicial Crisis Network is enlisting John F. Kennedy's voice in a new ad defending Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett against concerns that her Catholic faith will guide her judicial decisions.
Details: The ad relies on then-Senator Kennedy's famous speech on religious tolerance ahead of his election as the nation's first Catholic president.
- "Today I may be the victim," Kennedy told the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in September 1960. "But tomorrow it may be you."
Reality check: While most Supreme Court justices have been Protestant over the course of U.S. history, Catholics currently comprise a majority of the nation's high court.
The big picture: "JFK" is the latest ad in a $10 million blitz by the conservative group as they brace for contentious confirmation hearings starting Oct. 12, just three weeks before election day.
- Reserving time in Colorado, Iowa and West Virginia, JCN is hoping to sway senators from those states to support Barrett and secure her confirmation.
- Organizations on both sides of the aisle are spending millions to try to influence lawmakers in the fight to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg'sseat and energize socially-driven voters ahead of November.
The backdrop: The Trump campaign and conservative groups have been sensitive to speculation by Democrats about how Barrett's own faith could impact rulings.
- Democrats fear going too hard on Barrett in her confirmation hearings could backfire but that's also because she's a woman.
- They plan to give Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris a spotlight to shine attention on Barrett's history on health care and labor rights.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.
